BOB – Daniel

by Stephen Rodgers

DANIEL IN 10 WORDS OR LESS

“Faithful to God in a challenging setting, Daniel is blessed.”

TITLE

Like almost all the other prophetic books, the book of Daniel takes its name from the prophet responsible for its content. And since Daniel is a particularly significant book in the context of the OT, let’s get this started with a more-expanded-than-usual quote from the MSB:

According to Hebrew custom, the title is drawn from the prophet who throughout the book received revelations from God. Daniel bridges the entire 70 years of the Babylonian captivity (ca. 605–536 B.C.; cf. Dan. 1:1 and 9:1–3). Nine of the 12 chapters relate revelation through dreams/visions. Daniel was God’s mouthpiece to the Gentile and Jewish world, declaring God’s current and future plans. What Revelation is to the NT prophetically and apocalyptically, Daniel is to the OT.

AUTHOR & AUDIENCE

Per the MSB:

Several verses indicate that the writer is Daniel (Dan. 8:15,27; 9:2; 10:2,7; 12:4,5), whose name means “God is my Judge.” He wrote in the autobiographical first person from Dan. 7:2 on, and is to be distinguished from the other 3 Daniel’s of the OT (cf. 1 Chr. 3:1; Ezra 8:2; Neh. 10:6). As a teenager, possibly about 15 years old, Daniel was kidnaped from his noble family in Judah and deported to Babylon to be brainwashed into Babylonian culture for the task of assisting in dealing with the imported Jews. There he spent the remainder of a long life (85 years or more). He made the most of the exile, successfully exalting God by his character and service. He quickly rose to the role of statesman by official royal appointment and served as a confidante of kings as well as a prophet in two world empires, i.e., the Babylonian (Dan. 2:48) and the Medo-Persian (Dan. 6:1,2). Christ confirmed Daniel as the author of this book (cf. Matt. 24:15).

Per Constable:

There is little doubt among conservative scholars that Daniel himself wrote this book under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Probably he did so late in his life, which could have been about 530 B.C. or a few years later. Several Persian-derived governmental terms appear in the book. The presence of these words suggests that the book received its final polishing after Persian had become the official language of government. This would have been late in Daniel’s life. What makes Daniel’s authorship quite clear is both internal and external evidence. (see OBJECTIONS)

Assuming a traditional date of composition (approximately 530 BC), Daniel would have been writing for the benefit of other Jewish exiles in Babylon.

DATE

Per the MSB:

Daniel lived beyond the time described in Dan. 10:1 (ca. 536 B.C.). It seems most probable that he wrote the book shortly after this date but before ca. 530 B.C. Daniel 2:4b–7:28, which prophetically describes the course of Gentile world history, was originally and appropriately written in Aramaic, the contemporary language of international business.

Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Zephaniah were Daniel’s prophetic contemporaries. (As discussed below, Ezekiel actually references Daniel twice).

BACKGROUND & SETTING

Roughly speaking, you can think of Jeremiah as the prequel to both Ezekiel and Daniel, with the latter two being simultaneous and roughly concurrent sequels which continue the story from different points of view, which in turn set up the events in Ezra and Nehemiah.

So let’s do a quick review just to get our bearings:

  • We’re way past the unified kingdom of Saul, David, and Solomon; that’s in the rear-view mirror.
  • We’re also past the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah. The northern kingdom already got conquered by the Assyrians and carried off into exile.
  • Since that happened, the southern kingdom is sort of hanging on by their fingernails. The Assyrians aren’t really the baddest gang on the block anymore; at this point the real heavy hitters are the Egyptians (to the south and west) and the Babylonians (to the north and east). So the southern kingdom is really in the incredibly unenviable position of getting caught in the middle.
  • The southern kingdom fights a delaying action, but eventually Jerusalem gets overrun by the Babylonians (see: Jeremiah) for the first time (yes, there was a second time, and it wasn’t pretty), and carried off into exile. Some of those exiles wind up in one place (see: Ezekiel), and some wind up in another place (which brings us to Daniel), which just happens to be the very heart of the Babylonian empire.
  • We have not yet gotten to the part where the exiles come back to Jerusalem (see: Ezra and Nehemiah); that will come later.

Got it?

That’s where Daniel starts: a teenage captive, deep behind enemy lines, in a foreign land. It doesn’t look good, but as we’ll see, God has a plan.

HISTORICAL & THEOLOGICAL THEMES

There are several themes which run through the book of Daniel.

  • God’s Sovereignty: Perhaps the most significant theme in Daniel is God’s absolute authority over world history (Dan. 2:47; 3:17-18; 4:28-37; 5:18-31), which specifically includes kingdoms and governments (Dan. 5:21)
  • Faithfulness to God: God rewards those who are devoted to Him (Dan 1:8 with 1:15-20; 2:17-18 with 2:19; 2:27-28 with 2:48-49; 3:12, 16-18 with 3:26-30; 5:16-18 with 5:29; 6:7-12 with 6:19-24). What is especially relevant for us today is that we see it is possible for God’s people to survive (and even thrive) in the midst of real oppression.
  • Prophecies of Future Events: Daniel’s four visions contain predictions of both the near and far future, as well as the return of the triumphant Christ (Dan. 7:11, 26-27; 8:25; 9:27; 11:45; 12:13).

INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES

This is almost too big to tackle within the context of this article, so I’m just going to give a quick summary: eschatology.

As mentioned in the TITLE section, it’s not unreasonable to think as Daniel being the OT equivalent to the NT book of Revelation. Both are prophetic, both are apocalyptic (some scholars consider them to be the only two unqualified examples of the apocalyptic genre in the Bible: e.g. Robert D. Culver, “Daniel,” in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary and Edward J. Young, The Prophecy of Daniel: A Commentary).

As a result, not only is the content subject to the various interpretations and understandings that often occur when dealing with prophetic imagery (such as the precise meaning and understanding of various numbers (including the infamous “77s”), the Son of Man, the juxtaposition (or not) of Antiochus/Antichrist, etc.), but it is also going to inform and be informed by eschatological positions as well. Since there are a range of those expressed in historically orthodox Christianity, you can expect a range of understandings in regard to the eschatological features of Daniel as well.

LITERARY FEATURES

Per the ESVSB:

The book of Daniel is unique in the Bible in falling decisively into two distinct genres in its two halves. The first six chapters are hero stories comprised of six self-contained ordeals. The last six chapters are a series of visions that employ highly symbolic images to portray vast stretches of political and spiritual history. The visions that deal with the end times are apocalyptic visions. The techniques of symbolic reality figure prominently in all of the dreams and visions, including those in the first six chapters; in symbolic reality, the world that is entered consists largely of great symbols instead of literal characters and places.

OBJECTIONS

Objections to Daniel began in the third century with Porphyry (a neo-Platonist who disputed traditional authorship and dating), but pretty much disappeared after he was subsequently refuted by Jerome. Then the 18th century brought us Germans and rationalism, and Porphyry’s theory was re-raised by J. D. Michaelis. Since then there have been a number of criticisms levied against the book, which I will attempt to summarize and explain here:

  • Categorization. Much has been of the fact that Daniel is not included in the Nevi’im (Prophets), but rather is found in the Kethuvim (Writings) in the TNK (you do remember the OT Canon right?). This is easily explained by the fact that Daniel occupied a unique yes-and-no role when it came to prophecy. In one sense, he was a prophet: after all, he prophesied. In another sense, he was not a prophet: he did not minister exclusively to or among Israel, and his function was primarily that of an administrator in a foreign court.
  • Authorship. Interacting with the various challenges to traditional authorship would require a separate paper, but suffice to say that Daniel is attributed as the author both in the book itself (Dan. 7:1; 12:4), by his contemporaries (Eze. 14:14, 20; 28:3), and by Christ and NT authors (Matt. 24:15 and Mark 13:14; Matt. 26:64, Mark 14:62 and Luke 22:69; Heb. 11:33-34).
  • Dating. In addition to contemporaneous attestation mentioned above, a number of the Qumran scrolls have been dated within 40 years of the so-called “late date,” which presents significant problems for critics of traditional authorship/dating. In addition, if one accepts the premise that the LXX was translated more or less collectively in the third century BC, then the late date becomes impossible.
  • Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. A number of alleged historical inconsistancies or issues (such as the existence of Belshazzar) have recently been re-evaluated in light of archaeological discoveries. Furthermore, his Hebrew and Aramaic are consistent with both biblical and extra-biblical documents from the fifth and sixth centuries, BC (not the second century BC that the late date postulates).

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

  • Daniel 3:17
  • Daniel 6:22
  • Daniel 9:18

DID YOU KNOW?

  • The book of Daniel was originally written in two languages: Hebrew (introduction, most prophecies, chapter 1, and chapters 8-12) and Aramaic (chapters 2-7).

Other Works Referenced

  • Apologetics Study Bible, “Daniel”
  • Archaeological Study Bible, “Introduction to Daniel”
  • ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to Daniel”
  • MacArthur Study Bible, “Daniel”
  • NET Bible, Daniel
  • NIV Study Bible, Daniel
  • Reformation Study Bible, “Daniel”
  • The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, “Daniel”
  • Know Your Bible
  • Dever, The Message of the Old Testament
  • Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On the Old Testament
  • Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook